Bank Probationary Officer General Awareness AWARDS AND HONOURS Magsaysay for Amte Couple Honorary fellowship for Y.V. Reddy Ramon Magsaysay foundation in Manila declared Y.V. Reddy Governor Reserve Bank of India was its 2008 Magsaysay Award for community leadership awarded an honorary fellowship by The London School to the philanthropist doctor couple Mandakini and of Economics and Political Science (LSE) recognising Prakash Amte. Prakash is the son of social activist his commitment to the under previleged. Baba Amte and the couple is among the several indi- viduals from different countries who have been se- IT@school wins national level award lected for this years award. The IT@School programme of Kerala State Gov- They follow the footsteps of Baba Amte who won ernment has bagged the award for the ‘best govern- the award in 1985. ment initiative in IT-enabled teaching’. The award was Other winners of the year are Akio Ishii from Ja- pan, for journalism, Ahmad Syafii Maarif, for peace given at the e-India 2008 conference held at New Delhi. and international understanding. Phalke Award for Tapan Sinha Ananda Halappali from Sri Lanka will receive the Veteran Bengali film director Tapan Sinha was se- award for emergent leadership for providing effective services to victims of trauma from war and disasters. lected for Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime achievement Therdachai Jivacate of Thailand and Philippines cen- award for the year 2006. He was conferred recently tre for Agriculture and Rural development share the the “one time award for lifetime achievement” by na- award for public service. tional government while commemorating 60th Inde- Grace Padacawas awarded the Magsaysay 2008 pendence day. award for government service. She is the Philippine Provincial Governor who empowered the voters in Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award her province of Isabela to ‘reclaim their democratic Chairman, Indian Council of Gandhian studies N. right to elect leaders of their own choosing”. Radhakrishnan has been selected for the Rajiv Gan- dhi Sadbhavana Award for the year 2007. 54th National Film Award declared The 54th National Film Awards for 2006 were an- Khel Ratna Award nounced with Malayalam film ‘Pulijanmam’ by director ICC Twenty -20 winning captain Mahendra Singh Priyanandan being selected as the best feature film. Dhoni has been selected for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna The best actor award was bagged by actor Soumi- Award for the year 2007. He is the second cricketer tra Chatterjee for his role in the Bengali film after Sachin Tendular to win the prize. “Podokkhep”. while Priyamani won the best actress Global Vision Award award for her role in Tamil Film ‘Paruthiveeran’. The award for the best director has gone to Madhur Bhan- The US- India business council, a business advo- darkar for his Hindi film ‘Traffic Signal’. cacy organisation jointly formed by the U.S. and In- Bollywood super hit film ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ dia, has honoured Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and by director Raj Hirani has been adjudged the best Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises by conferring with the popular film providing wholesome entertainment. The ‘Global Vision’ award. film also won awards in the best screenplay and best Best National Male Actor Award lyrics category. The 54th National Film Award for Best Actor was given to Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee. Mr. Chat- outstanding contribution to the development of space terjee was declared winner of the award for his perfor- technology. mance in the Bengali film ‘Podokkhep’. Commonwealth Award IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Indian - Origin writer Indra Sinha’s book ‘Animal’s Lebanese author Rawi Hage has won the £ 100,000 People’, based on the Bhopal gas tragedy, has been (about 63.5 lakh) International IMPAC Dublin Literary adjudged this year’s best book in Europe and South Award, the world’s richest prize for a work of fiction. Asia by the common wealth. Canada’s Lawrence Hill won the top commonwealth writers prize for ‘The Book Godfrey Philips bravery award of Negros’. Hill has been named the winner of the best Dancer - turned - actor Sudha Chandran is among book award. 10 persons chosen for the Godfrey Philips bravery Awards. Sudha Chandran, who had a successful ca- India Abroad Person of the year 2007 reer as a performing dancer despite losing her leg in Award 1982, conferred the ‘Mind of Steel’ award for achieving India - born internationally acclaimed filmmaker success against all odds. Mira Nair has been honoured with the ‘Person of the Global Award on architecture Year’ award by the ‘India Abroad’ news paper in rec- ognition of her work. The award was presented to Ms. Sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik’s work - a polar bear Nair by Pepsi Company CEO Indra Nooyi at New York. on top of a globe praying “save my family” has won the first prize in a competition on ‘sculpture on global J.C. Daniel Award warming’ in Berlin. P. Ramdas, director and producer of the first neo- Knighthood realistic malayalam film ‘News Paper Boy’ was select- ed for the J.C. Daniel Award for 2007. India- born British author Salman Rushdie was kinghted by Queen Elizebeth II in London June for Punyabhushan Puraskar 2008 his “Services to Literature”. Former CSIR Director RA Mashelkar has been cho- Officer de la legion d’ honneur sen for the Punyabhushan Puraskar 2008 for his con- tribution to the field of science and technology. The Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra was conferred award is instituted by Tridal in the memory of freedom on the title ‘Officer de la legion d’ honneur’, the high- fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. The est French distinction, for his contribution to Indian award carries a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh and citation. Cinema. Golden Key Award Prem Bhatia Award Internationally acclaimed pop singer Remo Nirupama Subramanian, ‘The Hindu’ Corrospon- Fernandes has been conferred with the ‘Golden Key dent in Pakistan, has been awarded the Prem Bhatia to Alexandra’ Award by the Egyptian government. Award for the best political reporting for 2008. Ms. The singer is on forefront to preach social message Subramanian has been awarded for her ‘sensitive and through music. astute coverage of major developments in Pakistan, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the law- Pritzker Architecture Prize 2008 yer’s campaign for the restoration of independent supe- Jean Nouvel, the French architect has won the Pritz- rior judges, the parliamentary elections, and the induc- ker Architecture prize 2008, for his “courageous pur- tion of the new democratic government in Pakistan.” suit, exuberance and insatiable urge for creative ex- Raja Rammohan Roy Puraskar 2008 perimentation”. The prize, instituted by the Hyatt Foundation car- ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair wa conferred ries a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion. It is con- with the Raja Rammohan Roy Puraskar 2008 for his sidered to be the Nobel Prize equivalent for architec- K. K. Birla Foundation Awards ture. Conferred Jit Gill Memorial Award The Governor of Rajasthan S. K. Singh gave away Social activist Anna Hazare has been awarded the the K. K. Birla Foundation’s Bihari and Vachaspati World Bank’s Jit Gill Memorial Award for his contri- awards for 2007 in Jaipur. The Bihari award which car- bution in public service. ries a cash component of Rs. 1 lakh was given to Yash- want Vyas for his satirical novel in Hindi on communal The 92nd Pulitzer Prizes: Washington violence ‘Comrade Godse’. post Wins Six Pulitzer Prizes Adiseshiah Award for Yogendra Singh The Washington Post won six Pulitzer Prizes, in- cluding the public service award for its reporting on Yadav conditions of U.S. war veterans at America’s flagship Political scientist and Psephologist Yogendra military hospital. The 92nd annual Pulitzer Prizes in Singh Yadav has won this year’s Malcolm Adiseshiah Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced Award. A senior fellow of the Centre for Study of De- at Columbia University in New York City. The Public veloping Societies was chosen from a list of eleven Service winner receives a gold medal and winners in nominees. the remaining 20 categories receive $ 10,000. The New P.R.Dasmunshi Selected Best York Times won in the explanatory reporting catego- ry. The Chicago Tribune was awarded for investiga- Parliamentarian tive reporting. Awards for Breaking news reporting, The Union Information and Broadcasting Minis- national reporting, international reporting, feature writ- ter Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has been selected as the ing and commentary went to the Washington Post. winner of the Best Parliamentarian of the year award. The Boston Globe won for criticism of the visual arts It is worthnoting that P. R. Dasmunshi is a five time M. and Investor’s Business Daily won for editional car- P. from Raiganj (West Bengal). He was first elected to tooning. Concord Monitor won award in feature pho- the Lok Sabha in 1971. P. R. Dasmunshi tography. G. D. Birla Award for Prof. Santanu Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Awards Bhattacharya Presented Prof. Santanu Bhattacharya of the Indian Institute Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) presented Rajiv of Science in Bangalore has been selected for the G. Gandhi National Quality Awards on April 11, 2008. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for his signifi- Steel Authority of India Limited’s Bokaro Steel Plant cant contributing to chemical biology and molecular Design. The award has been instituted by the K. K. won the Best of All Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Birla Foundation and carries a cash prize of Rs.1.5 lakh. Awards, 2007. The winners in the other category in- clude-Tata Motors Pune, Tata Ryerson, Jamshedpur, Birla Foundation Awards Announced T. V. Super Fitter Industries Jammu and Wealthmax K. K. Birla Foundation awards for 2007 were an- Enterprise Management, Bangalore. nounced on Feb.